Animal Husbandry in the Tropics

Welcome to the Group Animal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics

The Group »Animal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics« is one of the two sections jointly implemented by the Agricultural Faculties of the University of Kassel and the University of Göttingen; its activities started in May 2006.

It is our overall aim to contribute to an optimized use of natural but also socio-economic resources in livestock-based land use systems of the Tropics and Subtropics. In view of this, our research concentrates on:

optimal and as close as possible integration of livestock and crop husbandry for efficient utilization of resources, especially nutrients from feedstuffs and animal excreta, in rural as well as in peri-/urban agricultural systems;

spatially and temporally explicit rangeland and livestock management especially in communal grazing systems that concomitantly and lastingly assures the interwoven productivities of pastures and herds;

elaboration and fine-tuning of non-invasive field methods for a spatio-temporally explicit quantification of landscape and vegetation utilization, feed intake, energy and nutrient metabolism and nutrient relocation of (free ranging) livestock.

In terms of animal species, our focus lies on ruminants (goats, cattle, sheep and buffalo), but pigs and chicken are studied as well.

Geographically, our research concentrates on West-Africa and Madagascar, the Middle East and Central Asia.